IV 

113TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. RES. 547 

Affirming the vital role that prayer has played throughout the more than 

200-year history of our Nation, strengthening the fabric of our society, 

and recognizing May 1, 2014, as the 63rd annual National Day of 

Prayer. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 8, 2014 

Mr. FORBES (for himself, Mr. MCINTYRE, Mr. AL GREEN of Texas, Mr. 

VARGAS, Mr. ADERHOLT, and Mr. LANKFORD) submitted the following 

resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform 

RESOLUTION 

Affirming the vital role that prayer has played throughout 

the more than 200-year history of our Nation, strengthening the fabric of our society, and recognizing May 

1, 2014, as the 63rd annual National Day of Prayer. 

Whereas the first act of America’s first Congress in 1774 was 

to ask a minister to open with prayer and to lead Congress in the reading of four chapters of the Bible; 

Whereas in 1789, on the same day that Congress finished 

drafting the First Amendment, it requested President 

Washington to declare a National day of prayer and 

thanksgiving, resulting in the first Federal official 

Thanksgiving proclamation; 


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•HRES 547 IH 

Whereas the Nation has a long history of turning to prayer 

both in times of crisis and in times of thanksgiving, including over 130 national calls to prayer by the President 

of the United States since 1789, including— 

(1) President Washington’s Thanksgiving Proclamation of October 3, 1789, ‘‘[I]t is the duty of all Nations 

to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey 

His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to 

implore His protection and favor—and whereas both 

Houses of Congress have by their joint Committee requested me to recommend to the People of the United 

States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many 

signal favors of Almighty God especially by affording 

them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness.’’; 

(2) President Lincoln’s Proclamation of March 30, 

1863, ‘‘We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of Heaven; we have been preserved these many years 

in peace and prosperity; we have grown in numbers, 

wealth, and power as no other nation has ever grown. 

But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied 

and enriched and strengthened us, and we have vainly 

imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these 

blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and 

virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we 

have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the 

God that made us. It behooves us, then, to humble ourselves before the offended Power, to confess our national 

sins, and to pray for clemency and forgiveness.’’; 


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•HRES 547 IH 

(3) President Roosevelt’s prayer before the Nation 

on D-Day, June 6, 1944, ‘‘Many people have urged that 

I call the Nation into a single day of special prayer. But 

because the road is long and the desire is great, I ask 

that our people devote themselves in a continuance of 

prayer. As we rise to each new day, and again when each 

day is spent, let words of prayer be on our lips, invoking 

Thy help to our efforts.’’; 

(4) President Eisenhower’s Proclamation of November 12, 1956, ‘‘It is also fitting at this season that we 

should consider God’s providence to us throughout our 

entire history. Let us remember the Pilgrim Fathers who, 

fleeing from religious oppression, landed on a bleak, forbidding shore and began to carve out what became this 

great Republic which it is our happy destiny to love and 

serve. For their foresight, their courage, and their idealism let us give thanks to the Power which has made and 

preserved us a Nation. Humbly aware that we are a people greatly blessed, both materially and spiritually, let us 

pray this year not only in the spirit of thanksgiving but 

also as suppliants for God’s guidance, to the end that we 

may follow the course of righteousness and be worthy of 

His favor.’’; 

(5) President Kennedy’s National Day of Prayer 

Proclamation of October 8, 1963, ‘‘On this day, let us acknowledge anew our reliance upon the divine Providence 

which guided our founding fathers. Let each of us, according to his own custom and his own faith, give thanks 

to his Creator for the divine assistance which has nurtured the noble ideals in which this Nation was conceived.’’; 

(6) President Clinton’s National Day of Prayer 

Proclamation of April 18, 1997, ‘‘As we face the last 


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years of the 20th century, let us uphold the tradition of 

observing a day in which every American, in his or her 

own way, may come before God seeking increased peace, 

guidance, and wisdom for the challenges ahead. Even as 

we continue to work toward hopeful solutions, may our 

national resolve be matched by a firm reliance on the Author of our lives—for truly it is in God that we trust.’’; 

and 

(7) President George W. Bush’s National Day of 

Prayer and Remembrance Proclamation of September 13, 

2001, ‘‘I call on every American family and the family of 

America to observe a National Day of Prayer and Remembrance, honoring the memory of the thousands of 

victims of these brutal attacks and comforting those who 

lost loved ones. We will persevere through this national 

tragedy and personal loss. In time, we will find healing 

and recovery; and, in the face of all this evil, we remain 

strong and united, ‘one Nation under God.’ ’’; 

Whereas the act of prayer is both an expression of religious 

belief and an act of speech that is protected by the First 

Amendment of the United States Constitution; 

Whereas both the House of Representatives and Senate have 

a long tradition of opening their daily legislative sessions 

with prayer; 

Whereas physical evidence of the Nation’s long tradition of 

prayer is a permanent part of the Capitol building, including a painting in the Rotunda of the pilgrims praying 

for divine protections aboard the Mayflower before they 

embarked for America as the word’s ‘‘God with us’’ inscribed on a sail above their heads; 

Whereas the law requires in 36 U.S.C. § 119, ‘‘The President 

shall issue each year a proclamation designating the first 


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Thursday in May as a National Day of Prayer on which 

the people of the United States may turn to God in prayer and meditation at churches, in groups, and as individuals’’; and 

Whereas May 1, 2014, marks the 63rd annual observance of 

the National Day of Prayer: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 

2 (1) recognizes the 63rd annual observance of 

3 the National Day of Prayer; 

4 (2) encourages all the people of the United 

5 States to come together to pray and reaffirm the im6 portance prayer has played in the Nation’s heritage; 

7 and 

8 (3) expresses support for the continued recogni9 tion each year of the National Day of Prayer, and 

10 of the importance that prayer and faith have played 

11 in the Nation’s history. 

Æ 


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